Suburban man charged in alleged road rage slaying

December 16, 2009

A 30-year-old South Holland man faces a murder charge in the slaying of a Burbank man this fall after Chicago police obtained a warrant for his arrest and took him into custody on the South Side this week, police announced today.

Mikel Pernell of South Holland faces one count of first-degree murder in the slaying Sept. 18 of George Cruz, 38, following a traffic altercation in which Cruz cut off Pernell in traffic, police said. Pernell was arrested Tuesday afternoon after a warrant for his arrest was issued Monday.

Pernell, who earlier this year was arrested in an unrelated case on a felony unlawful use of a weapon charge, sued the Chicago Police Department in federal court in 2003, alleging police coerced a confession to a double homicide in 2000.

Charges in the double homicide had been dropped after a criminal court judge threw out Pernell's videotaped statement to Wentworth Area detectives in the slayings of Valerie Davis and James Jones.

The civil suit was dismissed after the city settled the case in 2005, according to court records.

In the current case, Pernell is alleged to have been driving in the 10500 block of South Torrence Avenue about 11 a.m. on Sept. 18 when Cruz, who was driving with a passenger, inadvertently cut him off in traffic, according to a police news release.

Pernell and Cruz got into a dispute, and Pernell took out a handgun and shot at Cruz's car, police said. The bullet went through the windshield and hit Cruz in the head.

Pernell then took off in his car, and Cruz, of the 8400 block of South Lamon Avenue in Burbank, was taken to Advocate Trinity Hospital, where he was declared dead a short time later, according to police.

Their investigation pointed Calumet Area detectives toward Pernell as the suspect in the slaying, and a no-bail murder warrant was issued for Pernell's arrest on Monday by Cook County Criminal Court Judge Michelle Jordan.

Pernell was arrested on the street in the 6400 block of South Seeley Avenue, said Chicago Police News Affairs Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti.

Pernell had been scheduled to appear in Cook County Bond Court today, Ursitti said. Information about whether the no bail on his warrant was allowed to stand was not available this evening.

Although Pernell has been charged in almost a dozen criminal cases in Cook County dating back to 2000, court records indicate he has never been convicted. This year he has had charges of violation of an order of protection and theft dropped against him.

The weapons case was ongoing at the time of Cruz's slaying, and Pernell is due in court in the case again next month, according to court records.